A flier in career, an airplane builder in retirement

By Curtis Krueger, Times Staff Writer
In print: Thursday, February 28, 2008

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CLEARWATER — Chris Kalishek was eating his usual Saturday morning pancakes at a Dunedin restaurant a couple of years ago, when someone tapped his shoulder.

The man was Richard "Dick" Bonney, and he had noticed a picture of an experimental airplane on the back of Kalishek's shirt. The two airplane lovers instantly hit it off.

They chatted and went back to Mr. Bonney's house in Clearwater, where Mr. Bonney showed off a shop he had built out back. This, he explained, was where he built his own airplanes.

"Within two hours he was committed to building me a new race plane, out of the clear blue," Kalishek said.

And for the next two years, the two new friends worked on the Sonerai 1 experimental airplane together, starting with a set of plans and building it from scratch. Mr. Bonney worked on it seven days a week and never asked to be paid, other than for materials.

"He was working nonstop, that's what he loved to do," Kalishek said. "He loved to build and fly."

His wife of 34 years, Mary J. Bonney, never worried about him flying an airplane he built himself, "because he was very precise about everything, he was very particular. If he made a mistake, he would correct it."

Mr. Bonney grew up in New Jersey and graduated from high school in 1946. He enlisted in the Navy and became an aircraft mechanic. He joined Marine Fighter Squadron 311 and, family members said, served with baseball great Ted Williams and future astronaut John Glenn.

He flew 55 missions in F9F Panther jets in the Korean War and more than 100 combat helicopter missions in the Vietnam War. He retired in 1967 as a major.

After leaving the service, Mr. Bonney moved to Florida in the 1970s, which is when he met Mary. At the time, he liked building radio-controlled model airplanes, and mused about building a boat.

She told him: "Well, you like airplanes so well, why don't you build an airplane?"

Over the years, he built half a dozen, in his well-stocked shop. He built relatively small, experimental aircraft. He never built an airplane from a kit.

Jill Daniel, 49, who lives across the street from the Bonney home in Clearwater, said she was amazed at how carefully and precisely Mr. Bonney worked.

Kalishek and Mr. Bonney completed their plane, but Mr. Bonney did not get a chance to fly in it. He passed away Monday at age 79.

A private memorial service is planned at the Clearwater Airpark. Later, Kalishek and another of Mr. Bonney's friends intend to fly over the Gulf of Mexico and scatter his ashes.

"It's what he would have wanted," Kalishek said.